


USS Avenger

by barryallenisravenclaw



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Star Trek
Genre: Alternate Universe, Bucky gets kidnapped, Captain Steve at it again, Everyone else is p much background, M/M, Star Trek AU, again fair warning, and tortured fair warning, oh and Steve has some panic attacks, these are the voyages of the USS Avenger
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-05-14 07:48:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14765528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/barryallenisravenclaw/pseuds/barryallenisravenclaw
Summary: Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Avenger. Her captain, Steven Grant Rogers is no ordinary man. He is a man of great intensity of character and fortitude. So is his first officer, Commander Barnes. So what happens when Barnes get kidnapped by some evil aliens? Read to find out!Warnings for mention of torture and a few mild panic attacks. I say mild for the panic attacks because they get shut down pretty quickly and while I tried to be fairly realistic to my own experiences I also didn't want to be so realistic that I accidentally triggered myself while editing.





	1. The Exposition

Steve wakes up too early for the third time that week and rolls over with a sigh. Alpha shift starts at 0800 ship's time. It takes Steve about an hour and a half to finish his (admittedly lengthy) morning routine. So why, Steve had been asking himself and the ship's doctor all week, is he awake at 0530?

He's not going to get back to sleep, he knows that from experience, so Steve forces himself to sit up and gives another sigh. He must be worried about something. Course, Steve is always worried about something whether it be crew morale, what's being served in the mess, or whether they're going to run into Skrull again and have to fight them off. To be honest, though, Steve can't think of a single thing that's currently bothering him. Counsellor Wilson will be proud to hear it.

Steve is halfway through his push-ups before he realizes what the problem is. Bucky's leading an expeditionary away team, starting today. Steve hates it when Bucky goes with the away teams.

It's not as if he can't handle it, obviously Bucky is a trained Starfleet officer, but Steve feels like he should go wherever Bucky goes. It's not exactly protectiveness, but it's also not not protectiveness?

Steve sighs. Maybe he should go talk to Sam...

It's only 0600 when Steve finishes his workout, so he takes a shower then works on some paperwork. He hates doing it, but it has to be done sometime. The worst paperwork is when he has to send out MIA or KIA notices. Those really get to him because of his dad being KIA, but thankfully he doesn't have any this morning.

The paperwork takes longer than it should because Steve keeps getting distracted by Bucky's away mission, but he gets it done. He's down at the mess around his usual breakfast time and happy to see his first officer there, too. Steve gives him a little smile as he sits down with his replicated eggs and toast.

"Captain," Bucky says with a grin.

"Commander," Steve replies. It must lack something, because Bucky groans.

"Aw, c'mon Stevie, don't be like that!"

Steve continues eating his eggs and doesn't look at Bucky. "Like what?"

Bucky rolls his eyes. "You know. You're being grumpy because you're not going with on the away mission. I'm tellin' ya, you wouldn't like it much anyhow. It's just survey. We're taking three science and two security, it's not gonna be fun."

"Ah, yes, who is it again?" Steve continues to feign disinterest. "Vision, Williams, Banner and who else?"

"You know who else, you big lug, you're just being dumb about it." Bucky grumbles. "If you wanted away missions you shouldn't've become captain."

Steve fakes a laugh. "Sorry, Buck, I'm just messin' with ya. You and Romanov have fun down there on a planet, practically alone, and I'll keep watch up top."

Bucky rolls his eyes. "Ain't like that and you know it."

"Sure, Buck." Steve rises from the table and disassembles his dishes in the replicator. "You comin' or what?"

Bucky rolls his eyes again but he stands and follows Steve to the turbolift. "Punk."

Steve smirks. "Jerk."

\-----

"Captain on the bridge," Rhodey calls when they step off the turbolift.

Steve grimaces. "Rhodes, I've told you not to do that. It makes me uncomfortable."

Rhodey winks at him. "You should know by now, Captain, I do it because it makes you uncomfortable."

"How are we doing, Vis?" Bucky asks the second officer.

"We are functioning within normal parameters, Commander. During Gamma Shift there were no events of consequence." The android vacates the command chair and returns to his other position at the science station. 

"Good to hear, Vis, thank you," Bucky replies with a grin.

As Steve takes his seat in the chair, he can't help but watch as Bucky sits down at the helm with Lt Barton. Over the past year, Bucky has proved himself to be a fantastic First Officer. Of course, Steve knew that would be true. He and Bucky had served on the same ship as each other since they first got ship assignments. They even knew each other at Starfleet Academy. In fact, Steve and Bucky had been friends since they were twelve and thirteen respectively. When Steve received his commission, there had been no contest. He knew exactly who to choose as his First.

"Coming up on Alpha Hydrii VI now, Captain," Barton reports suddenly from navigation, rousing Steve from his musings.

"Thank you, Mr Barton. On screen, drop to impulse power then take us into orbit." Steve replies. He shouldn't be worried about Bucky, but he can't help it. He'll always be worried about his best friend.

"Captain. Receiving unusual readings from the plan-" Vision stops speaking suddenly and seems to reevaluate. "It appears it was but a fluctuation, sir. The readings are back to normal."

Steve frowns. "What kind of unusual readings?"

"We have achieved orbit, Captain," Barton cuts in.

"For a moment it seemed as though we were receiving life signs," Vision answers.

Steve is about to suggest another scan when Bucky cuts him off. "Jesus, Steve, it's probably nothing. Don't get so worried about it. My team can handle anything, right? Best of the best."

"Buck, I think you should-"

"It'll be fine, Steve. I'll be back in a few hours." Bucky stands from his station and walks to the turbolift. "Vision?"

Steve sighs as new duty officers take their stations. He waits for the turbolift doors to close, then says "Parker, scan the planet again for life signs. Rhodes, notify the transporter room that Barnes is ready to beam down to the planet."

A chorus of "aye, sir," is heard, then silence.

Well, it's not quite silence. Steve can hear the rumbling of the ship's engines, the air vents, and the beep of the scanners. These noises prove to help Steve calm down, reminding him of the safety of the ship. No one will hurt his crew because he is in command.

"Just the away team on life scanners, Captain," Parker reports.

Steve breathes deeply. Everything will be fine.


	2. The Rising Action

"Captain, incoming message from the away team."

Steve sighs. Every damn time. "Patch me through, Lieutenant."

"Captain, we have a problem." It takes Steve a moment, but he suddenly registers that the voice is not Bucky's.

"Commander Romanov? Nat, what's going on? Where's Bucky?" Steve is trying very hard not to sound upset and he isn't sure it's working.

The security chief sighs. "He's missing, sir."

"..." Steve stares at the wall a moment, letting the news sink in. "How?"

"We're not sure, sir. He walked farther down the path than me, I was second to the front, and then when we turned the corner he was gone." Steve has to admit, she sounds almost as mad as he feels.

"Form search parties of two and take a look around. If you can't find anything in an hour, call me again."

"Aye, sir."

"And Romanov?"

"Aye, sir?"

"An extremely thorough search would be best. No stone unturned."

"Understood, sir. Romanov out."

Steve sighs and leans forward, placing his head in his hands. "Never listens..." He mutters, but Barton hears him.

"Sir?" The navigator asks warily.

"Scan the planet periodically for life signs, this time include possible placement of the away team in reports," Steve orders en lieu of reply.

"Aye, sir."

The captain sits back in his chair and sighs. He's definitely going to be here for a while. If Nat doesn't find Bucky soon, though, Steve probably won't even be able to focus enough to do paperwork. Under normal circumstances, not doing paperwork would be a good thing. Steve's not feeling it today.

A few hours after Bucky went missing, Steve gets a visit on the bridge from someone he really doesn't want to see. His Chief Engineer.

"Hey, Wing Head!" Tony greets him.

Steve sighs. "For God's sake, Stark, address me properly on the bridge."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Tony smirks and looks slightly affronted. "I thought you might like a little joviality after being an hour overworked on your shift. I can see now how wrong I was. Please forgive me."

The captain rolls his eyes. "What is it, Tony?"

The engineer feigns pain in his chest at the phrase. "How dare you imply that I'm a nuisance. I was only coming to relieve you of duty and yell at you to get sleep, seeing as we're in the absence of... Let's see... All? Of our senior staff? And that makes me next to inherit the throne? Both of being in the chair and yelling at you about your health?"

Steve sighs heavily, but Tony keeps talking. "Why are Vision and Bruce still down there, anyway? What's the ship's doctor gonna do for a search and rescue? Why does the away mission need the second officer when it already has the security chief?"

Steve stands abruptly and makes for the turbolift. "Barton, you have the bridge."

Tony whines. "You're kidding, right? The trigger happy pilot has the bridge?"

"Patch all calls from the away team down to me in Gymnasium 2," Steve continues, nonplussed. After the doors close, Steve says a quick prayer for Bucky. Lord knows the jerk needs it.

\-----

Five days. Bucky has been missing for five days. Steve has been going crazy for five days. The crew have been restless for five days and Steve can't do shit. He sighs and runs a hand over his face. Day one of the extended mission reports to Starfleet.

Captain's log, stardate 59474.5: It has now been five days since Commander Barnes went missing on an away mission to... shit.

Steve pauses a moment, then puts his head between his legs like Sam told him. 

God, if only Steve had been down there. If he'd been on the planet, he could have fucking done something. 

Anything.

Fuck.

Steve can't tell how much time passes before Sam rings his doorbell, but it's full of racing thoughts and broken objects as Steve tries to get his shit together.

Now Sam is here and he's going to know you're freaking out again. He's gonna be mad you can't just get your shit in order, he's gonna--

"Come in," Steve calls out. There has to be something wrong with him, to freak out so bad just from Bucky going missing. If only he could--

Sam calls his name twice but Steve can't hear it. If he had just--

"Steve!" The counselor is directly in front of Steve now. When did he get there?

"Steve you need to get planetside pronto." Sam's voice glides through the haze of self hatred in Steve's brain like headlights and he takes a deep breath.

Then the words register. Steve stares at his friend. "Are you kidding? You think I haven't tried? Tony has the transporter chief on orders not to let me down there. I'd get court martialed. Don't dangle that carrot in front of this nose, Sam, I don't think I can handle it."

"Since when have you let the threat of a court martial scare you into inaction?" Sam replies coolly.

Three seconds later, Steve is out in the hall marching toward the transporter. He orders the chief to beam him down, and when Lang questions him Steve gently reminds the kid who his captain is.

The planet's vegetation is thick. Steve is kind of impressed that Bucky's team made it anywhere. Of course, it isn't long before Steve finds the coordinates where Bucky went missing. He's had them memorized since it happened.

Steve does a little poking but can't find anything.

He does a little more poking and still can't find anything.

He does a little scanning. A little searching. A little digging and he still can't find anything. Frankly he's surprised Tony hasn't come down to beat him up yet, he's been planetside for over an hour.

Steve takes a deep breath. He needs a new strategy. Maybe he could think more clearly if this weren't such a personal problem.

Missing, Steve thinks, human male approximately 172lbs, 6ft tall, 35 years of age. Victim has been missing for five days, or approximately 112 hours give or take. Last seen by Security Chief Romanov at my present location.

Steve searches for four more hours before Sam comes to get him. He figures he must look like hell because Sam sends him straight to bed as soon as they see the next search team beam down. The thing is, Steve can't sleep.

He decides to invite Nat over for some hardcore drinking.

"Something bothering you, Captain?" she says when he calls her into the room.

Steve smirks in a self deprecating way. "No titles tonight, Nat. Just vodka."

She shrugs. "Sounds good to me. As long as you don't get all mushy on me, Rogers."


	3. The First Climax

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one's so short but I'm not practiced at writing fight scenes \\_(*~*)_/

Steve hears the bosun whistle right as he starts another round of crunches. Rhodey has bad timing. Never interrupt a man's crunches.

He stomps over to the wall comm and sighs before pushing the button. "Captain here."

"Captain Rogers! We just received communication from the away team. Romanov says she found a door, sir."

Steve frowns. "A door? In the middle of a forest?"

"Affirmative, sir." Steve sighs again, pulling on his command gold.

"Tell her I'll be right there." A door. After six days it's a door in the middle of a goddam jungle. Why isn't Steve excited?

\-----

"Captain," Romanov greets him as he jogs up to meet the away team. "Looking a little sweaty there. You alright?"

"Where's the door, Nat?" Steve asks tersely. He's aware that he sounds like an asshole, but he's also an impatient asshole whose best friend is missing.

He's also, Steve notes as Natasha shifts from friend mode into security chief mode, a commanding officer who wants to get shit done. This means that shit is about to get done.

"Ten yards east in a rock wall. Sensors report that's it's a solid object, but somehow I doubt that. Why build a door to nowhere?" Natasha reports.

"And how did we miss that door in five previous days of searching," Steve mutters.

One of the blue shirts butts in at the end. "Sensors also show no life signs but that also seems unlikely. It's very possible that we're getting interference."

Steve nods. "Thank you, Williams. Romanov, Odinson, you're at my left and right. Banner, Williams go back to the ship. Vision, you too. I need you on the bridge in case this goes south. Security, I need you both alert and ready. We don't know what kind of resistance we'll be facing in there."

Each crewman nods as they receive their assignment and Steve is reminded just how fantastic a crew he has. He wishes that they didn't have to come in with him, in fact he's prepared to send them away if resistance is too strong, but he knows Natasha will murder him if he tries to go in alone.

He squares his shoulders as he stares down the strange metal door. He doesn't flinch when he hears the scientists beam up to the ship. He takes a deep breath and remembers why he's here, for Bucky.

"Let's go."

The op goes just as would be expected from a mystery door in a mountain. They set charges and blow the door straight to Q'onoS, and are met by a few hundred total enemy combatants inside. They manage to lose the attention of most by killing the door guards quietly and then sneaking past the rest. According to Steve's observational skills, along with the blood curdling screams they can hear as they make it farther into the base, they've almost made it to Bucky.

He's in a lab, on a table, half dead.

Nat and Thor stand guard without Steve having to ask. He double times it to the table in the middle of the room and starts unbuckling Bucky's restraints. He plans on carrying the commander out of there, but then the poor man speaks.

"Stevie?"

The captain thinks he's going to cry, but he holds it in so he can reply. "It's me, Buck. We're getting you out of here."

It's only then that Steve notices the arm.

The fucking metal arm where there used to be a flesh one. Forget crying, Steve is going to murder those bastards.

"Cap?" Romanov calls. "You might want to hurry it up, we might have been spotted."

An alarm sounds, and Steve curses. He rips off the last leg restraint and picks up Bucky bridal style, ignoring the faint protests from the man himself because of how very faint they are. Bucky may think he can walk, but he can hardly keep his eyes open.

"Let's go," Steve says, charging at a steady jog down the hall back the way they'd come. "Thor, call the ship to see how quickly they can get us out of here. Romanov, get ahead of me for cover."

"Sir, thine ship reporteth interference withe the transporter. A lock ist impossible within the confines of the mountain."

Steve curses and picks up the pace. He lightly notices that his arms aren't tired, despite the added weight of the metal to his companion. He figures it's like those stories of people doing heroic things. They're stronger than normal for people they love.

Natasha and Thor probably kill around a hundred people on their escape route. As soon as they make it out of the mountain, Thor is on the horn with Vis getting them the hell out of there as ordered. They rematerialize and Steve takes off again, still carrying Bucky and sprinting down to sickbay to see Banner.


	4. The Rest of the First Climax

Sam must have alerted medical because Banner and three nurses are ready and waiting when he gets down there. Steve carefully places Bucky on the nearest biobed and turns to his CMO.

"They attached a metal arm to him, Bruce. I found him barely awake in some sort of lab."

Bruce glances at him, then continues scanning his patient. "Maximoff, call engineering and get the chief down here. Tell him he's not allowed to jabber. Steve, with all due respect, get out of here."

Steve uncrosses his arms and stands at attention. "What? Why? You don't need to do surgery or anything, do you?"

"Steve, unless he starts talking I have no idea how extensive--"

"Stevie?" Steve is at his side in an instant, completely ignoring Bruce's protests.

"I'm right here, Buck."

"Steve, I can't feel my arm," Bucky says, locking eyes with his captain. "They stuck something in my shoulder and now I can't feel my arm."

"It's gonna be okay, Buck."

Tony walks through the door right as Bucky falls asleep again. "Bonjour, Brucie, what am I looking at here?"

Before answering, the doctor turns to Steve again. "Captain it would be really helpful if you could just leave the operating room. Even just sitting on the other side of the room would be fine."

"Oh boy, that's a doozy," Steve hears Tony exclaim.

He frowns deeply, but he does as ordered and sits down in Bruce's office.

"Wanda, get me a hypo of 20ccs antiprovaline," Bruce orders, "Tony grab a tricorder if you need one and tell me all you can about that arm. I'm seeing poison releases in the shoulder where they touch can you..."

Steve's panic doesn't set in for another few hours, but as soon as Banner steps away from Steve's first officer he's back to doing deep breathing exercises. He can't believe what's happening. His best friend was forcibly given a goddamn metal arm. What kind of monsters would do that to a person?

"He's lucky," Bruce says as he enters the room. "If he hadn't gone through the experimental enhancement with you all those years ago, he might have died as a hostage."

Steve put his face in his hands. "How is he?"

"Tony got the arm off safely and I set the rest of him right. When he wakes up we're going to ask him if he wants the arm back on."

"You're what?" Steve stares at the doctor like he's turned purple.

"He only has one arm now, Steve. We have a functional prosthetic that Tony is checking for bugs as we speak. If the commander wants to have two arms, we're going to let him." Bruce sighs. "Look, Steve, I know you--"

A whistling noise from the desk makes Steve open a channel. "Cap, you down there?" Barton asks. Steve can hear the worry in his tone.

"Captain here, Barton, what's wrong?"

"Ship approaching on the far side of the planet, sir. Ship origin unknown."

Steve rubs his eyes and looks at the doctor. "I'll be right there." He clicks off the communicator, then turns to Bruce. "Call me down here when he wakes up. If I don't answer right away, call Romanov. He's comfortable with her." Bruce nods, and Steve marches down the hall.

When Steve gets on the turbolift, he lets out a breath he didn't know he was holding. The two of them have had a lot of close calls over the years, but damned if this one doesn't take the cake. Bucky lost an arm. An arm, after getting kidnapped from a survey mission. Steve already knows the commander isn't going on away teams for at least two months. In fact, Steve's bringing Sam with him when Bucky wakes up, just to get him checked out.

"Captain on the bridge," Rhodey calls, signaling Vision to get out of the command chair.

Steve sits quickly. "Put the ship on screen, Mr Barton."

"Aye, sir." The alien vessel is definitely an interesting shape. It sort of reminds Steve of an old 20th century bomber, except with eight huge protrusions coming out of the underside.

"No identifying markings on the hull," Clint reports.

"Magnify factor two, rescan for markings," Steve orders. Who the hell are these guys...

An unexpected beep sounds behind Steve. "Alien vessel is hailing us, Captain." Rhodey sounds a little worried, but Steve ignores it and asks for the call to be on the screen.

A human man whose face seems vaguely familiar is looking back at Steve. His bridge looks a lot like that of the Avenger, which is extremely concerning. The other ship has their design down pat, right to the placement of the turbolift. His uniform is far removed from Starfleet, however, and is in a bright green. Soldiers behind the speaker have helmets that look like they're from those old sci-fi holovids Steve and Peggy used to watch back on the 107.

"Attention USS Avenger," the other captain says, "you are in possession of something of great importance to my superiors. We kindly request that you return it before we are forced to resort to more drastic measures."

Steve raises an eyebrow. "Hello, I'm Captain Steven Rogers of the USS Avenger representing the United Federation of Planets. We are orbiting Aloha Hydrii VI on a survey mission and are unaware of any property being stolen, nor of any sentient beings taking claim on this planet. We will gladly assist you in your search to find the real thieves. May I ask with whom I am speaking?"

"Ah, Captain Rogers," the man in the other ship smiles in a way that makes Steve worry. "This is a pleasure. I am Commander Rumlow of the Hydra Alliance. You have stolen our research project. I shall enjoy killing you for that." Rumlow turns to an attendant behind him. "Open fire!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the cliffhanger! I'll be right back, I promise!

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading this! Comments and Kudos appreciated!


End file.
